tani reviewed on
I don't always enjoy "Oprah books," but I certainly did this one. It reads easily and the conversations sound natural. The fact that I forgot most of the plot rather quickly tells me that it is not 'memorable literature,' but it is a very, very good read--uplifting, as another reviewer called it--and leaves you feeling good.
The older I become, the more I favor books that do not (1) leave you up in the air or peter out at the end, or (2) act as if, just because terrible things can happen in life, you need your nose rubbed in them, and (3) under the guise of being realistic, have a bitter--or in some other way very unpleasant--ending. Some classics, like Madame Bovary or Anna Karenina HAVE to end sadly or they would miss their point, but I deplore the way nowadays even some children's books pretend to be upbeat while actually ending quite unpleasantly (A Day No Pigs Would Die being my special hate in that respect). Where the Heart Is escapes all those pitfalls and has a lot to offer.
If you liked The Bean Trees and Pigs in Heaven (but not necesssarily The Poisonwood Bible), by Barbara Kingsolver, you should like this one, too.
The older I become, the more I favor books that do not (1) leave you up in the air or peter out at the end, or (2) act as if, just because terrible things can happen in life, you need your nose rubbed in them, and (3) under the guise of being realistic, have a bitter--or in some other way very unpleasant--ending. Some classics, like Madame Bovary or Anna Karenina HAVE to end sadly or they would miss their point, but I deplore the way nowadays even some children's books pretend to be upbeat while actually ending quite unpleasantly (A Day No Pigs Would Die being my special hate in that respect). Where the Heart Is escapes all those pitfalls and has a lot to offer.
If you liked The Bean Trees and Pigs in Heaven (but not necesssarily The Poisonwood Bible), by Barbara Kingsolver, you should like this one, too.
